As`ad AbuKhalil on Mideast democracy, Laurie Garrett on exit memo

This week on CounterSpin: Was the Bush administration right all along? That’s the question the media are asking nowadays, with democratic uprisings happening across the Middle East that many say are all thanks to the White House. Much of the coverage focuses on Lebanon; but what’s really happening there? We’ll ask As`ad AbuKhalil, professor of political science at California State University, Stanislaus.

Also this week: Folks concerned about the future of journalism are discussing why a veteran journalist left their post this week. No, it’s not Dan Rather. Pulitzer-Prize winning reporter Laurie Garrett said she won’t be going back to her job at New York’s Newsday. Notable among her reasons: Corporate media owners who, she says, serve stockholders first and Wall St. second, with readers somewhere far down the list.